Seregil raised a brow at that. “It’s some form of Middle Konic! The pronunciation is a bit blurred, but it’s unmistakable.” Turning to the youth, he said, “Eah salma wodi megak, Nothir.”

The boys went wide-eyed for a moment, then the younger ones began to laugh. Nothir quickly shushed them and said something to Seregil in his own language. Seregil laughed in turn.

“What’s going on?” Alec demanded impatiently.

“I said I was glad to meet him, and he says he’s glad to meet me, too, even if I do speak like my tongue’s been split.”

Seregil spoke at length with the boys, then looked to Alec and shrugged. “None of them recognizes my description of the boys Mika saw.”

“Ask him if there are any towns near here,” said Alec.

Seregil spoke again, and one by one the boys shook their heads. The little one said something that sounded scared and the others nodded, then the next-to-oldest added something else, to which Nothir made a cutting motion with his hand.

“There’s one near here, back in the hills east of Menosi,” Seregil explained. “This boy, Agus, says he’ll guide us there if we pay him, but he won’t go in. Nothir doesn’t want him to go.”

“Try telling him you’re a great lord and the rest of us are warriors. No harm will come to Agus,” said Alec.

Seregil translated that. Nothir and Agus turned away and spoke with their heads together. Nothir seemed angry, but the other boy carried the day, for he turned to Seregil and nodded, saying something.

“He’ll take us now, while there’s still daylight, but once he’s gotten us there, he’s coming straight back,” said Seregil.

“Fair enough. How much does he want?”

Seregil asked and the boy named his price, pointing to Nothir. Seregil took half a dozen silver sesters from his purse and gave them to the youth. “He wants to make sure his family has the money, in case he doesn’t come back.”

“Must be a rough town,” one of the soldiers said with a laugh.

“What’s it called?” asked Alec.

Agus shrugged and fetched his pony. He led the way, and they rode across the plain to the base of a rough, stony rise several miles on with a dry riverbed meandering near the bottom. The bed was filled with rounded stones covered in moss and weeds.

The boy pointed west and said something.

“He says Menosi is over this rise,” Seregil explained.

There was no sign of a path, but the bank was level and they rode upstream until they reached the crumbling remains of a good-sized town on a small rise facing over the river, its back to the ridge and Menosi.